Artifice
by xXinsane.rolainXx
Summary: Max and Viola. Farce names but they work well for the duo in hiding. They both needed to restart their lives and it worked for a while at least, but a new club opened called "Artifice" and after taking visit to "Artifice" old ghosts come back to life and all hell breaks loose. Disclaimer: I do not own Homestuck. That honor goes to Andrew Hussie (werking on ch.3)
1. How the fuck?

You are the reader.

You opened this story and may have some expectations for this story to be decent. I, the writer will do my best to please you.

You are the reader and you must be bored with waiting for shit to begin.

Two people walk in a park. They do this often but unknown to the outside observer (you) they're just friends in a city that is foreign to them.

There is a man and a woman.

Since you can't find out much from this point of view you should choose a friend to become.

You choose the man.

You are "Max"

It isn't your real name of course. You wanted to start a new life so you became another person.

You are just on another walk with your friend Viola. Her fake name doesn't suit her well but that was kind of the point right?

You both don't speak about your old lives mostly out of respect. You both left your old lives for meaningful reasons.

She met you through the hotel you both worked at. You were a security guard and so was she.

After you both found out what you had in similar you hit it off and stuck together since you both had nobody else in this alien town.

"Max?"

You look up and see her concerned expression. "Yeah?"

She's hesitant. "Are you okay?"

You nod slowly. "Just reliving the past for a second."

She disregards your moment.

"Hey" You say, "want to go out tonight?"

Viola pauses in thought for a bit. "Yeah that sounds nice."

You smile and head to the apartment you rent together. "What club should we go to?" You ask.

"We should try that one club, 'The Artifice'." Viola has a gleam in her eye.

"I haven't heard of it." You say.

She gasps. "You haven't? It's the talk of the town!"

"Well let's see what the excitement is about, yeah?" You smile and she smiles back at you.

"Hell yeah. Time to tear shit up!"

You unlock the door and hold it open for her before following her inside.

She walked briskly to her room. You get to your room and go for a soft blue t-shirt and some jeans that are just a _little_ snug on you.

She comes out of the bathroom with blue make up on and a blue dress. The top fits her well and the skirt ends above her knees and she tops it off with a leather jacket.

"I plan on getting laid tonight." She explains shamelessly.

You laugh.

She hangs her keys around her neck, hidden in the pendant and you put yours in your pocket.

You grab your wallet and lock the door.

"You driving?" You ask.

"Artifice is a few blocks away. We can survive a walk."

You follow Viola. She is kind of short but she moves fast so she stays ahead of you.

Viola turns a corner and you see 'The Artifice' for the first time.

Lights of many colors come out of the window. You recognize the building. It was an abandoned factory but someone turned it into a, Jesus Christ, huge club.

You hear the music and feel the bass when you open the door. Viola cheers.

The crowd is large but not dense, thank god. You couldn't handle a packed area.

Viola drags you over to the bar and buys drinks.

"Got to loosen you up tonight. Time to let the beast out mothafucka!" She yells but it isn't noticed in the noisy crowd."

You let her pull you into the cluster of grinding, sweaty twenty-somethings.

"Max": Be "Viola"

You are now "Viola"

You know something is up with Max. He had that look you wore for the longest time when you were broken up over the past. He needed to be cheered up.

Max seemed to be having fun. You even caught him eyeing a few guys and girls.

You kept seeing a guy with a Mohawk looking at you bashfully. You wouldn't understand why though. He's tall, handsome and muscled perfectly. Maybe he was intimidated?

You leave Max and head for the Mexican.

He looks up and jumps when he sees you heading directly for him. You smile seductively.

You sit next to him. "What's your name?" You ask.

He looks up. "T-Tavros." He stutters. You grin.

"Viola." You look him in the eye. "Mind buying me a drink sweetie?"

He nods. Maybe you can get this guy to loosen up too.

You see a guy with clown make up on glare at you from behind Tavros' shoulder. You smile at him.

He growls. You gesture him to join in, a challenge in your eyes. Come on Bozo let's dance.

He complies. You internally celebrate your success.

You sit at the bar with Tavros. The clown sits at his side.

"Oh, hi Gamzee." Tavros says.

"Want a drink my fine brother?'" He has a southern accent and a rough voice.

Tavros nods.

Tavros is tall but Gamzee, damn he has too be at least six foot five. And where Tavros is muscled and tan Gamzee is pale and lanky.

You try to get this game started.

"So Tavros, what brings you to artifice?"

"Just trying to have fun with my friends, how about you?"

"I am too."

"Will you introduce me to your friend?" You ask.

"Oh this is Gamzee. Gamzee, this is Viola." Tavros smiles.

"You boys want to dance?" You direct another challenge at Gamzee.

He nods and surprisingly so does Tavros.

"Viola": Be "Max"

You are now Max again.

After Viola left you just found different people to dance with. Eventually you began to dance with a blonde girl with striking magenta eyes.

She offered to introduce you to her brother when she found out you didn't go for girls.

She led you to the D.J. box. But when she opened the door your heart stopped.

Dave Strider.

He turns around. You both are silent. "John?"

It's like he flips a switch.

You turn around and bolt. Dave yells for you to stop.

Like hell you were going to stop. You disappear into the crowd.

Dave still yells for you but he never had been good at weaving through crowds. You however did well enough to out run Dave. You run into Viola.

"Max?" Viola asks.

"He's looking for John." You point at Dave.

Viola centers in on him. "I'll take care of it." Viola has a sadistic look. "Boys would you mind helping?" She asks. The guy with the clown make up on looks at me and nods.

You thank them and proceed to rush out the door towards your house.

John: Be Dave

You are now Dave. You just saw your best friend who disappeared for two years. Sure he left a note but he didn't say where he was going or how to get in contact with him.

You accepted a gig here and brought your sister, you had no fucking clue that John was here and he suddenly sees you and runs away leaving you with a clown, a Mohawk and a woman that screams sadistic.

Wonderful.

You didn't see which direction John went so getting to the door is pointless now. You growl in frustration. You turn to the sadistic looking woman. "You know him don't you!" The clown steps in front of you.

"He doesn't want to speak to you."

You nearly scream in frustration. "Well I want to speak to him! He leaves after we go on a date without any fucking explanation and doesn't even try to talk to me. I have been looking for him for two years!" Your words are laced with venom.

The trio is silent.

The woman steps around the clown. "Look, I'll try to get him to talk and try to give you an explanation. But you are not going to corner him."

You calm down and take a breath. "Okay."

There was still a chance to understand what happened and maybe, you could help.

A/N: Hi there. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I WILL update this when I can ^_^ but right now I need sleep and relaxation. HAPPY NEW YEARS WHOOP. Btw it's still 2013 here and I am so excited


	2. I fixed the chapter gais sorry

Dave had to finish his gig. After three more painfully slow hours later he headed back home. He gave that girl his phone number to call when she could, either to tell him John wanted nothing to do with him or to tell him why John left.

Reader: Be Dave

You are now Dave. You keep checking your phone and you really should stop. If it beeps you'll know but you ignore that fact and check it again like it will speed up things. You stare at the screen, hoping for a text message from an unknown number.

Rose keeps looking at you with concern and curiosity. You glare at her when the curiosity looks stronger.

"Who was that? The boy."

"John."

Her eyes widen. "That was John?!"

"Yes."

"How did you know that was him? I didn't even recognize him?"

"He can wear contacts, change his style and even dye his hair, but I'll know him when I see him." You say remorsefully.

Rose has a sudden understanding. "You still love him."

You look up.

"I always will."

Rose looks down in thought. "Why did he leave?" She asks more to herself than to you.

She'll figure it out if anybody can. You let her think and pick up your key card and pull on a jacket. "I'm going to go for a walk."

Rose is writing furiously on piece of paper. "Mm hm." Rose nods.

You open the door and go down the stairs.

It's quiet outside. Of course it would be it's five A.M. in the morning. You don't feel tired in the least due to your schedule of work.

It's still blissfully dark out. You don't think you could handle the sun right now.

Some of the street lamps are either dim or burnt out and the others are overwhelming. You watch one flicker a bit.

You find yourself wandering towards the Artifice. Dirk always wanted to open up a club. Why he chose here is a mystery but it gets packed every night, even on Sundays.

Your thoughts turn to John. You heard the woman call John "Max". It sounded weird even in your thoughts. Max equals John.

You jolt out of your thoughts when your phone buzzes. You whip it out and see that the text isn't from an unknown number, but from Rose.

-Come back to the hotel, I think I may have begun to figure out what happened-

You run back to the hotel.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

Dave: Be "Viola"

Somebody hit your head with sledgehammer. That has to be the only reasonable explanation for the immense pain in your head. You open your eyes and see unfamiliar surroundings. You try to remember what happened last night.

The three of you drank until the bar closed and danced the last hours away before the club closed. Gamzee warmed up to you and Tavros came out of his shell a little.

You left for home when it closed.

You lost your key like a fucking idiot. Gamzee and Tavros had walked you home and witnessed you reach for your pendent and find nothing around your neck. They also witnessed you pounding on the door yelling for Max to open the fucking door.

Tavros then offered you to stay the night at his and Gamzee's place. Gamzee didn't object so you accepted.

Their place wasn't half bad. They lived in a roomy apartment. Gamzee said they had three other roommates there. You briefly wondered who they could be, but decided you didn't really care. You just wanted to sleep.

That leads up to right now. You open your eyes again and see someone standing over you,

"Who is this?" She sniffs. "Unless one of you guys decided to wear perfume this girl doesn't belong here."

You blink and squint at her. "Who?" You rasp.

"Oh." She cackles, "She lives!" The girl leans in closer. "Tell me, sweetie. Who are you?"

"Vriska." You say drowsily. You gasp. "Viola! I mean Viola."

She looks at you questionably.

Tavros opens a door. "Terezi? What are you doing to Viola?"

Terezi grins. "OOOH, I get it. Fake name huh." She turns to Tavros. "This girl gave you a fake name. Vriska didn't want you to track her down huh."

You panic. "No! Stop saying that name!"

They both stare.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck.

You feel your face go red. You curse yourself, since when did you become a blushing dainty little girl.

Tavros nods slowly. "Okay."

You sigh and apologize.

"I'm going to go ahead and start over right now. " Terezi says. "Viola, do you want some food?"

You nod but quickly notice that this entire time she hasn't met your eyes this entire time. "Yes please." You say.

She smiles and heads to the kitchen.

You really hope they keep that scene to themselves. If they found out who you are you could be sent back to that damned asylum. Like hell you would go back to that candy-coated hell of a prison.

Fuck you really hope they disregard that moment.

You groan when your hangover rears it's ugly head. Terezi cackles. She comes back to the couch with some eggs and sausage.

You thank her for the food and eat.

"So I should call you Viola?" Terezi turns her head towards you.

"Yep." You say.

"Well, Viola. It's a pleasure to meet you. Did you end up here because of those two, dumbasses?" She points in the direction of Tavros and Gamzee's room.

"No, they actually helped me. I lost my key."

She becomes surprised. "Well. I didn't expect that?" She smiles almost fondly. "They aren't that useless huh."

You thank her again for the food. And get up. "Are you leaving?" She asks.

"I have to see if Max is home to let me in."

"Do you want to stay in contact? I'm always around these guys." You see a tiny bit of hope on her expression.

"Okay." You tell her your number.

You head out the door and start to walk home.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

Vriska: Be John.

You are now John.

You walked about for an hour or two before going back home last night and when you did come back home you were surprised to find that Viola wasn't home. You just brushed the thought aside and continued to get ready for bed.

Two years. It's been that long? You guess you didn't really pay attention to time and a day was just another day. You got up and went to work like a robot. Just following a routine everyday. You occasionally went out with Viola but that was the only difference besides the walking in the park.

You felt like you were waking up from sleep oddly enough.

You groan and roll onto your stomach. You don't want to deal with Dave right now but he'll track you down if he has to, and when he finds you he sure as hell isn't just going to leave. You don't think he'll understand why you left. He didn't really know who Caliborn was in the first place so trying to explain this was like trying to explain the fourth dimension in ten seconds.

Any hope of going back to sleep dissipates when you hear a pounding at the door. It sounds like Viola.

You almost laugh. Did she lose her key? You get up and open the door.

Viola thunks her head against the wall.

"You lost your key?" You ask.

She nods, head still touching the wall.

"Where did you stay?"

"Those guys let me sleep at their house. Where were you?"

"Walking."

She nods and walks to her room and flops on her bed.

You almost walk away when she talks. "I let my name slip. I don't want to go back." The pillow muffles her but you still hear the unmistakable tinge of fear in her voice. You pat her on the back.

"Nothing will happen. And if something comes up, we'll leave." You say quietly. She nods. You get up to go lay in your bed.

You didn't drink much last night so you didn't have a hangover but you did feel exhausted. Nothing really happened here. It was quiet. Was.

Your thoughts decide to wander again and you fall asleep.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

John: Be Tavros.

You are now Tavros.

The room is too bright, you realize that you forgot to shut the window and pull down the blinds before you slept yesterday. Or maybe Gamzee was trying to get some fresh air. Either way, sunlight was blinding you to no end even with your eyes closed.

You roll out of bed with great reluctance, but the smell of Terezi's cooking is like a siren and you can't help having your mouth water in anticipation.

Terezi hands you a plate and sits with her own food when you enter the kitchen. She smiles in between bites.

"So that was some girl." She looks at you coyly.

You feel yourself blush.

"How did you meet her?"

"At Artifice. She lost her key and we didn't want to just leave her."

"Artifice huh? I want to go there. I'm going to drag Karkat and Sollux with me." She snickers."

"Like hell you will!" Karkat yells.

"Morning Karkles!" Terezi yells back.

"Shut the fuck up! It's too early for this shit!" Sollux says.

You can't fight the smile that comes to your face. This was an amazing Idea on Karkat's part. He even found an apartment across the hall for Kanaya, Aradia, Eridan, Nepeta, Equius, and Feferi.

Speaking of which. You should go and visit them sooner or later.

Karkat comes out of the hall. "Morning assholes."

He grabs a plate and puts food on it.

"Who the fuck decided to let someone into the house like it wasn't already filled with assholes?"

Terezi lazily points to you with her thumb.

"Weren't you gay for Gamzee? Now you're bringing in a girl?"

Your face goes red again. "N-No."

"Bullshit."

"She lost her key." You say almost defensively

"Sure that's the reason. Very believable." Karkat gives you a suggestive smirk.

You sigh and resolve to give up, thickheaded, the both of them.

Terezi snickers to your annoyance.

"Who was that anyway?" Karkat asks.

"Viola." You say in the process of washing dishes.

"She looked familiar. Maybe we know her?"

"Well her actual name is Vriska I think."

The air is silent. You feel tension enter the room.

"Vriska, you let Vriska Serket into our house." Karkat asks you incredulously.

"You know her?" You ask.

"You don't remember her?" Karkat knocks you upside your head. "The psych ward escapee!" He yells. "She went to middle school with us too!"

You rub your head. "No! I don't remember her! That was a long time ago!"

Karkat rubs the bridge of his nose and sighs. "You let an escaped psychotic girl into our house."

Terezi turns to you with a smile on her face. "Tavros, you fucking idiot, I will give you ten seconds to run and hide."

You jump off the chair and race towards your room. When you open the door a knife is buried into the wall next to your head. You slam the door and hide behind Gamzee.

He shifts and opens his eyes. "Hey Tavbro, what's up, you're looking all stressed and scared something awful." His southern accent comes out. You bring your index finger up to your lips and point at the door.

Terezi bursts through the door. "You let an insane person into our home! While we slept!"

You shiver.

"You both need to use that pin-sized brain of yours." Terezi says dangerously. You let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding. She points the knife in her hand towards Gamzee. "That girl 'Viola'" She exaggerated her name, "was Vriska Serket! A girl who escaped from the psych ward back home!" She snarls at Gamzee.

Gamzee just stares at Terezi, unfocused with drowsiness.

"What?"

Terezi just sighs in frustration and shakes her head. "Just keep 'Viola' away from the apartment.

Gamzee cocks his head. "Gotcha, now would ya let me get my motherfucking sleep on?"

Terezi heads back to the kichen.

You are suddenly aware of how close you are to Gamzee. You attempt to jump over Gamzee but end up with a face plant into the floor.

Gamzee can't hold back a lazy smile.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

Tavros: Be Karkat

You are now the angry ball of fluff.

Once Terezi had seemed to calm down you tried to talk with her but yet another interruption is mad by a certain lithping asshole.

"Flip some tables TZ?" Sollux asks.

Terezi glares at Sollux, nearly meeting Sollux's eyes.

"Please tell me you remember Vriska Serket." You plead.

Sollux blinks. "The girl who killed her mom at eleven, she's hard to forget."

"She spent the night here." You say.

"What." Sollux deadpans. He looks a little bit caged, like he was holding back something, but you disregard it.

You sigh. "She's called Viola now, we didn't recognize her."

Sollux catches eye contact with you. He begins to try to explain.

"She isn't a danger, you know that right?" Sollux asks.

"She isn't?"

"Her mom was begging for death and she did it out of love. A car hit her and it didn't kill her."

"You looked into her case?"

Sollux nods. "I also looked into her hospital records and talked to the other workers there."

"Why?"

"She was our friend. Anyways. She crossed the wrong person and they kept her drugged to the point of no awareness. I managed to secretly switch out her meds and I got her out of there."

"When did you plan on telling anyone this?" You ask with anger.

"I thought you forgot about her. Almost everyone did. I didn't want to tell anyone either, I mean I helped someone escape from a psych ward. So I figured since everyone most likely forgot her, I didn't need to tell anyone."

"So how did you do it?" Terezi asks.

"I hacked into the system and mixed the medicine before distracting the guards and dragging her out." Sollux states plainly.

Damn you didn't know Sollux could be a decent person.

"What now?" You ask.

"Well I want to help her again, she seemed a bit troubled according from what you told me." Sollux rubs the back of his head.

"Should we tell anyone else?" Terezi asks.

"I don't know if we should just yet."

You rub the bridge of your nose again.

It runs through your head that this might cause some trouble, but it also runs through your mind that this might cause some adventure. You realize how ridiculous your last thought is and disregard it.

Nothing much happens here and that's what you like about this place. Just because a girl from middle school reappeared doesn't mean things are going to change.

You are suddenly aware of how hard you are trying to convince yourself.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A/N:Okay I uploaded this on accident so I am sorry to those who read the half finished one haha I am such a dumbass sometimes, also I noticed that someone is following my story, thank you, and on a last note I will mention anyone who reviews me, I really want to know how I'm doing, indulge me pleaaaaase, even if it is just to say "your story sucks monumental ass"

Working on the third, I'll be back soon -Rolly


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